On Thursday morning, the Football Association of Wales will lead a presentation of ‘Prosiect Cymru’ to key stakeholders in the English game, amid significant reservations from EFL clubs.
The idea is that the four Welsh clubs in the English pyramid – Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham – would enter a new 16-team Welsh League Cup, with the winners earning a place in the Europa Conference League. They would consequently forego any route into Uefa competition from the English pyramid. EFL clubs are still concerned about the significant effect on their competitions, not least regarding financial imbalance.
That’s why the Welsh party will instead focus on financial imbalance between the two football countries and appeal to a spirit of togetherness fostered by the Euro 2028 bid. This is understood to be persuasive to the English FA, but their decision will only come after recommendation from the Professional Game Board, who comprise four representatives from the Premier League and EFL. They are not expected to recommend approval.
The pitch, according to figures close to the project, will centre on how “the FA needs to remember the spirit of co-operation it championed during the successful Euro 2028 bid”.
“’Football for all. Football for good. Football for the future’ was at the heart of the bid’s promise,” one source said. “Welsh football has approached its Welsh League Cup plans with the same spirit of unity and collaboration and would sincerely hope the FA follows through on its own message. This strong alliance should remain at the heart of all future endeavours, and the impact that these revamped plans can have on Welsh football at all levels, from grassroots up, embodies what this partnership can deliver.”
That spirit isn’t quite shared by EFL clubs. “Well they can f**k off to the Welsh pyramid, then,” has been one line. While that is among the more visceral responses, it has been uttered at a few clubs, with the reaction generally ranging from that to more qualified reservations.
The most pronounced is that it would simply be unfair for some clubs to benefit from one system, while also staying in another. “It’s having your cake and eating it,” has been another common line.
“It’s extra wealth for them, from a competition we can’t participate in,” complained one chief executive. While a central part of the Welsh pitch will be that any extra club income will not be factored into Profit and Sustainability Rules, rivals are still pointing to how they can just invest it in infrastructure in a way that would still affect competitive balance.
Clubs also believe it will damage the EFL’s own Carabao Cup, since some teams have an alternative they can more realistically win with a huge prize at the end. A European schedule might simultaneously disrupt the calendar.
There is also suspicion that the impetus comes from figures within certain ownerships, and that it could be “a classic case of commercial motivations guiding short-term decisions”. Resentment is already widespread at how Wrexham have grown commercially through Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Those close to the project deny such impetuses and insist the idea comes from within Welsh football. It is also there where it’s possible to see the arguments about “fairness” from both sides. The FAW will point to how they generally only receive £2m a year in Uefa revenue from club competitions, compared to the £15m for a similar-sized neighbour like Scotland. That is exclusively down to the highly distinctive situation of Wales’ biggest cities all supplying clubs who contribute to and represent the English system, which is currently the wealthiest in the world.
“It would be like Glasgow and Edinburgh just being ripped out of the Scottish game,” says one source. Total Network Solutions are currently Wales’ only professional club, which means their Uefa coefficient – reflecting recent European performance – is the sixth worst on the continent, even though the national team is ranked the 16th best.
The main argument will be “about English football sharing the wealth with its neighbours”, but also getting around the table to discuss it face-to-face and explain where they are coming from. The Welsh side similarly believe they can address the main reservations.
Regarding the effect on the calendar, the EFL would make space if one of their own teams won the Carabao Cup, and there is the precedent of relegated Wigan Athletic winning the 2012-13 FA Cup to qualify for the Europa League. In terms of the Carabao Cup, “all clubs still want a big game against Manchester United”. Addressing the competitive balance issue, they will say that entire discussion is complicated by parachute payments, although that is already a situation the EFL want changed with the future independent regulator.
The Welsh side will also stress how the money will be ring-fenced for a system that doesn’t have anything like England’s facilities, right down to children accessing dressing rooms. They will conclude that it is football solving football’s issues, amid a lot of wider political and geopolitical influence on the game.
While there is sympathy for that, the bottom line from EFL clubs is that they don’t really see why this is even an argument involving the Welsh FA. For them, it merely concerns Welsh clubs that they ultimately have to face in direct competition. That is why executives are envisaging “0 per cent support”.
Such an apparent impassability points to how this is yet another off-pitch story that brings together many strands of the modern game.
Above anything, it is a 21st-century sport trying to navigate Edwardian structures, since a primary issue is that the Welsh clubs are “long-established actors in English football”. The Welsh side will argue this is correcting an anachronism since the first national League of Wales was only formed in 1992, when Newport actually won a High Court action to remain in the English pyramid. They will also point to the precedents of how FC Vaduz represent Liechtenstein in Uefa coefficients – putting them above Wales – but play in the Swiss system, with similar examples in Canada and MLS.
That discussion centres on the extreme financial disparity of the game’s modern economy, which forms the thrust of the Welsh argument regarding partnerships. They believe the project will bring £3m a year to Welsh football, with the added benefit of boosting the sport. “Imagine Wrexham rocking up to Carmarthen Town.”
Some on the EFL side are nevertheless aggravated that Euro 2028 is being brought into this at all, since it seems a vintage case of horse-trading over tournaments influencing football governance. Prosiect Cymru will instead argue that it can be a positive legacy of progressiveness for Euro 2028.
There is finally the issue of club ownerships, and other potential legacies. EFL figures have noted how Wrexham have remained silent on this in multiple meetings. They would obviously stand to benefit from European participation but could it prove a hindrance if/when they get to the Premier League? EFL clubs are insisting another Uefa review at that point would be impossible.
Those on the Welsh side are stressing that they currently have the European governing body’s approval for the plan but the view elsewhere is that Uefa will only get involved once there is agreement. That, against the odds but appealing to unity, is what the Welsh side will try to strike on Thursday.
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